Grad student studies poor farm

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. -- A graduate student at the University of Illinois at Springfield is recording information about a darker era of Morgan County history.

Jacksonville native Vance Scott Martin, an intern at the Illinois State Archives in Springfield, has been working for about three months transcribing original, handwritten Morgan County poor farm records from 1848 to 1932.

"Some of the information is pretty neat," said Martin, 28.

Some of it comes from the medical journal that the farm's doctor kept from 1912 to 1932.

The three large books were donated to the archives by Monica Ryan, wife of former Morgan County Associate Judge Charles J. Ryan. The records were discovered when Judge Ryan was settling the estate of a Jacksonville resident.

The poor farm, also called an almshouse or poorhouse, was often the last resort for people who could not support themselves.

Some were admitted by the court if it was shown that they could not fend for themselves. Some residents were listed as being orphaned, insane, crippled, blind, drunk or simply aged.

"It didn't really list that they were poor," Martin said. "There would usually be some other reason."

Martin has so far completed recording 2,300 of 2,500 individuals' records.

He thinks the records will be helpful for genealogy in the area, perhaps opening doors for researchers who have hit a roadblock tracing their roots.